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Robots to deliver Yelp Eat24 dinners in two SF neighborhoods

"Bryant Walker Smith, a law professor at University of South Carolina and Stanford who studies autonomous vehicles, said he thinks ground robots could eventually be big, even if they are more of a public relations gimmick at first.

“The question will be: Is it cheaper for delivery to happen by person, by robot, or some combination?” he said. Right now, with many companies using independent contractors for delivery, “humans are really cheap, because so many costs are externalized, either borne by the workers or by society paying for their health care.” He sees that cheapness as artificial, and said that at some point, robots will be more cost-effective in some situations."